EFIC helped South State Food & Beverage with a working capital guarantee
South State Food & Beverage Pty Ltd, an Adelaide-based manufacturer of ‘ready to drink’ alcoholic beverages, needed additional working capital to seize new export opportunities in China and Taiwan.
The company already enjoyed strong demand for its flavoured alcoholic drinks, including its flagship product, DNA Alcoholic Spring Water, in countries around the world.
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), the Australian government’s export credit agency, provided a guarantee to South State’s bank, Westpac, to help the company finance increases in the cost of packaging for markets in China and Taiwan.
A guarantee from EFIC enables eligible SME exporters to access additional working capital from their bank to help their export business grow. With EFIC’s guarantee South State was able to access further funds from Westpac to help fill new export orders.
‘It’s great to receive orders for our beverages in China and Taiwan, but this also means extra packaging and labelling costs for these markets’, said Stephen Williams, managing director of South State.
South State manufactures its brands in Adelaide, and under licence in Melbourne and Sydney as well as in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1998, the family-run company has international distributors in Europe, Asia and Lebanon.
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